Second Russian Civil War

Clockwise from top-left: Russian Loyalists fighting against Ultranationalist rebels in the Caucasus Mountains, Russia; U.S. helicopters flying over the coastal city; The aftermath of the nuke on the capital city; An OpFor soldier opening fire with an M249 SAW against U.S. Marines; U.S. Marines fighting against Opfor; Ultranationalist rebels in northern Azerbaijan, assaulting a village.

Shortly after the sniper team is compromised and after shooting down a hostile Mi-28, they then escape the building and proceed to Extraction Point Four, a nearby amusement park. On the way, another Mi-28 appears and it is also shot down. However, the chopper went down "hot" and when it crashed, shrapnel crippled Captain MacMillan. Lieutenant Price carried him to the extraction point near a ferris wheel with Ultranationalists hot on their trail. The two snipers manage to hold back waves of Ultranationalists long enough until the extraction team of U.S. Marines arrive in a CH-46 Sea Knight and safely evacuate both snipers.

Imran Zakhaev permanently lost his arm, but managed to survive the encounter. This would slowly lead him to become known as one of the most powerful and influential major political leaders within Russia, and head the Russian Ultranationalist party.[3]

Before intervention in the war, Imran Zakhaev realized that a second Russian Civil War, with 15,000 nuclear weapons on the line, would gain a high level of Western attention, especially United States and United Kingdom who both were supporting current Russian Loyalist Regime. In order to cause a diversionary war, he contacted his Middle Eastern ally, Khaled Al-Asad. Al-Asad would launch a coup d'état against the governments of the Middle East, all funded and supported by the Ultranationalist party. Al-Asad's forces would become known as OpFor, or Opposing Force, by the United States military.

Al-Asad's coup d'état was completed with the execution of the President Yasir Al-Fulani on national television. His country, despite advertising an upcoming peace within the nation, was remarkably unstable. This was seen in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare when OpFor soldiers are seen executing civilians who did not support Al-Asad's leadership.

The SAS team being inserted by helicopter onto the Väljakutse, somewhere near the Bering Strait.

Around the same time period as Al-Asad's coup, the British SAS launched an assault on an Estonian freighter, registration number 52775, in the Bering Strait. Utilizing intelligence gained from a Loyalist informant in an Ultranationalist camp, the strike force, Bravo Team, led by now Captain John Price, with Gaz, Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish, Sergeant Wallcroft, and then Private Griffen, discovered nuclear WMD's being transported, along with a document written in Arabic. They barely managed to escape after "fast movers", enemy MiG-29's, performed an airstrike on the freighter.

Prior to the USMC's mission, a joint British SAS-Russian Loyalist force, commanded by Captain Price and Sergeant Kamarov respectively, launched a small assault on an Ultranationalist camp. They soon split up, with Sgt. Kamarov taking the town and Capt. Price rescuing a valuable informant. A little while after that, an AC-130 gunship assisted in Cpt. Price's team's evacuation by United States Marine Corps helicopters.

The United States, unknowingly being fooled by Zakhaev's diversionary plan, launched an attack on a coastal city in Kuwait, located in the Middle East. Here in a local television station, Al-Asad was supposedly spreading nationwide propaganda.

The television propaganda was revealed to be a recording, as there was no sign of Al-Asad.

The war would continue in the Middle East as U.S. Marines continued their push towards the Capital City, where Al-Asad was cornered.

The U.S. forces then led a massive offensive campaign on the Capital City, using Force Recon and Wild Weasel units to take down Al-Asad's air defenses. The British Special Air Service had informed the U.S. Marines of captured intelligence which indicated that Al-Asad may have a Russian nuclear warhead, possibly for use in a last-ditch, "scorched earth" situation.

An American CH-46 Sea Knight in Basrah,Iraq.

NEST teams, covered by U.S. Navy SEAL teams, were then deployed in an attempt to find and defuse the nuclear warhead. Soon, the nuke was discovered and all U.S. forces were recommended to evacuate and reach a minimal safe distance from the center of the city, where the warhead was recovered. One notable team within 1st Force Recon, Bravo Team, would attempt to rescue a downed Cobra pilot even after they were informed that they would not be within a safe distance in the event of nuclear detonation.

The NEST teams failed to defuse the nuclear warhead, resulting in a catastrophic explosion that cost the lives of 30,000 U.S. Marines and civilians. This would lead to the next war, five years later — after General Shepherd became rogue in an attempt by him to show off the true power of the United States.

The British SAS gained intelligence from Nikolai that Al-Asad had not acted in a suicidal attempt to escape the U.S. assault, but instead that he escaped prior to nuclear detonation, possibly to a small village in Azerbaijan. Bravo Team then infiltrated several houses in the village in a desperate attempt to find him. They succeed, and Al-Asad is captured and interrogated. The team learns that the nuclear warhead was actually supplied by Imran Zakhaev, the leader of the rebellious Russian political party, the Ultranationalists, after he calls Al-Asad on his cell phone and Price hears his voice. Al-Asad was then executed by Price with an M1911 pistol. Price recounts his assassination attempt on Zakhaev fifteen years previously.

Ultranationalist forces in northern Azerbaijan.

Eight hours later, the SAS commandos were attacked by Zakhaev's men, who were supposedly looking for Al-Asad. Bravo Team managed to hold off the offensive and escape on USMC helicopters. The USMC and SAS would then perform a variety of joint operations against the Ultranationalists.

"Zakhaev's son. Commander of the Ultranationalist forces in the field. Rotten apple doesn't fall far from the tree.... The Loyalist Kamarov has got a location on the kid."

— Captain Price

The joint USMC/Loyalist/SAS force then got a location on Imran Zakhaev's son, Viktor Zakhaev. They planned to capture him and interrogate him on the whereabouts of his father. After taking over an Ultranationalist-controlled checkpoint, they ambushed him. Viktor attempted to escape, and ran from the team until he reached a dead end at the roof of a five-story building. Before the team was able to restrain him, he fired his M1911 at his jaw, killing himself.

"It's quite simple. Either we retake the launch facility or we won't recognize the world tomorrow."

— Captain Price

With their last lead as to where Zakhaev was gone, the team decided to wait. Imran Zakhaev, infuriated by his son's death, took over an ICBM launch facility to force "All U.S. and British forces" to "leave Russia immediately, or suffer the consequences".

The SAS and USMC team then stormed the Ultranationalist-controlled missile launch facility. However, shortly prior to their arrival, Zakhaev launched two RT-2UTTH Topol-M ICBMs, each containing six separate nuclear warheads, with each individual warhead carrying the equivalent to 550 kilotons of TNT. Eight of these were targeted towards U.S. cities, with the ability to cause the death of an estimated 41 million American civilians.

A helicopter dropping USMC forces is seen flying over an ICBM silo door in Altai Mountains, Russia.

After receiving the missile abort codes from Loyalists, the team infiltrated the facility. After heavy fighting, they managed to abort the missiles over the Atlantic with zero civilian casualties.

The team boarded vehicles in an attempt to escape the facility. This also involved getting through a highway with heavy Ultranationalist defenses. An Ultranationalist Mi-24 Hind helicopter blew up a bridge along the escape route while their vehicles were on it, thus causing the team to be stranded. After fierce fighting with heavy Ultranationalist reinforcements, an exploding gas tanker knocked out a majority of the team. Meanwhile, a Loyalist force made their way to the bridge to provide gunship support to their allies, but they were not able to make it in time.

Imran Zakhaev himself then entered the scene, executing Gaz, while other Ultrantionalists shot other teammates. Their plow through the remnants of the USMC/SAS team was cut short when a Loyalist Mi-28 Havoc gunship barged in and began to fire upon Zakhaev's forces. It was then that John "Soap" MacTavish executed Zakhaev with an M1911 pistol that Captain Price slid to him while both were on the ground behind him.

Loyalist Mi-8 Hip helicopters drop in allied reinforcements and evacuated the team. Capt. Price was unconscious and "Soap" passed out while on a stretcher being lifted to the helicopter. All other team members were dead.

"Place is filled with living casualties of the last war... which I swear I thought we'd won."

— Soap, in the opening cut scene of The Gulag.By and On August 10, 2016, the Ultranationalists would win the war through the Russian presidential election and Boris Vorshevsky would then become the new elected President of Russia.

The Second Russian Civil War would cost the lives of over 30,000 U.S. Marines. It would also force a strain on U.S.-Russia relations after the Ultranationalists took power due to Vladimir Makarov and his growing terrorist cell. It is also implied that a second Cold War took place between the two countries also because of Makarov. The result of the war between the U.S. and the OpFor is not clearly stated.

In October 2013, a joint Task Force 141/Delta Force mission (Operation Kingfish) was launched to eliminate Zakhaev's successor, Vladimir Makarov. The mission ended badly as the base turned out empty and Ultranationalist reinforcements swarmed the team. "Soap" MacTavish was wounded and evacuated with the rest of the team, while Captain Price stayed behind to buy them time. He was slightly wounded, and captured.

Capt. Price would be imprisoned within a Russian Gulag and would play a major role in the beginning stages of World War III as part of Task Force 141, before becoming an international criminal. Soap would return to the UK and become the field commander of Task Force 141, also becoming an international criminal alongside Price. The detonation of the nuclear device in the Middle East resulted in deaths of 30,000 U.S. military personnel and set the events of Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 into motion.